THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE MARCH 2003 COST THE OF A VOLUNTEER WHAT IT TAKES TO PROVIDE A QUALITY VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

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1 THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE THE MARCH 2003 COST WHAT IT TAKES TO PROVIDE A QUALITY VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE OF A VOLUNTEER

2 THE COST OF A VOLUNTEER The Grantaker Foru on Counity & National Service, founded in 1993, is an affinity group of grantakers representing the whole spectru of philanthropy, including private foundations, individual donors, corporate foundations and counity foundations. The ission of the Grantaker Foru is to provide leadership and inforation about the value of service and volunteering and to encourage private and public investent in the field as a eans of strengthening counities and building a healthy deocracy. The Grantaker Foru is devoted to raising awareness about the value and power of service and volunteering, and to axiizing opportunities for all Aericans to serve. The Grantaker Foru pursues its ission through its sponsorship of events, counity dialogues, issuebased research, networking, publications, and an annual conference. For ore inforation about the Grantaker Foru on Counity & National Service, its publications, upcoing events and ore, visit the GFCNS web site at: BOARD OF DIRECTORS (MARCH 2003) President: Lara Iglitzin, Henry M. Jackson Foundation Vice President & Treasurer: Jaes A. Marks, Greater Milwaukee Foundation Suzanne Aisenberg, The Atlantic Philanthropies Ann C. Baker, The Piton Foundation Nick Bollan, California Center for Regional Leadership AnnMaura Connolly, City Year Deni Frand, AOL Tie Warner Foundation Cynthia Gibson, Carnegie Corporation of New York Jeffrey M. Glebocki, The George Gund Foundation Christine M. Kwak, W.K. Kellogg Foundation Lynn Leonard, Ewing Marion Kauffan Foundation Robert Sheran, Surdna Foundation John Sirek, McCorick Tribune Foundation Chuck Supple, California Governor s Office on Service and Volunteeris Tobi Walker, Pew Charitable Trusts Ex Officio Mebers: Corporation for National Service Points of Light Foundation Project Director: Jill Blair Project Manager: Tina Cheplick Project Associate: Sharon Jones Staffing for the Grantaker Foru is provided by BTW Consultants inforing change, a Berkeley, California fir specializing in organizational developent, planning, and progra evaluation for the philanthropic and non-profit sectors.

3 THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE INTRODUCTION D In his State of the Union address in January 2002, President George W. Bush called on all Aericans to becoe ore engaged as active citizens and to devote 4,000 hours, or two years, over their lifeties to volunteer service. This Call to Service brought attention to the need for all Aericans to invest theselves in strengthening the nation by taking personal action to iprove the lives of others. In the days and weeks following the President s address, the board and staff of the Grantaker Foru on Counity & National Service heard nonprofit and philanthropic organizations express their concern that as uch as they subscribe to the value and ethic of volunteering, they were not certain whether or how the nonprofit sector could absorb a huge infusion of new volunteers. Nonprofit and philanthropic leaders expressed the belief that there was a capacity issue at hand the sector would need ore staff and resources in order to expand its capacity to train and supervise a large increase in volunteers. Concerned that in the rush to endorse the President s vision for an engaged Aerica we risk iniizing the real costs associated with achieving that vision, the Grantaker Foru set out to exaine what it would take for the country s public charity sector to increase its capacity for citizen service and volunteering. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER D With financial support provided by the Ewing Marion Kauffan Foundation, the Grantaker Foru on Counity & National Service probed the nonprofit sector s concerns and issues about absorbing an influx of new volunteers. If the President s call to serve is heeded, thousands upon thousands of Aericans will knock on the doors of neighborhood nonprofit organizations. What capacity do these organizations have to place the? What financial resources can they draw upon to train the? What infrastructure do they need to supervise volunteers and recognize their contributions? Clearly it takes soe aount of financial capacity for a nonprofit organization to turn even the ost eager citizens into valued volunteers. Recognizing that Volunteers aren t free, the Grantaker Foru on Counity & National Service decided to explore the question: What does it cost to ount an effective and high quality volunteer progra? The inforation presented here does not attept to calculate a ratio of return on investent. Instead, it is intended as an exploratory exaination of the costs any of which are hidden associated with operating a high quality volunteer progra. By this work we hope to raise up for further consideration the financial iplications for the nonprofit sector of a significant national increase in volunteeris. 1

4 D THE COST OF A VOLUNTEER METHODS In order to gain an understanding of the costs of a volunteer, the Grantaker Foru conducted telephone interviews with staff fro 21 high quality volunteer progras fro around the country. These interviews relied on a standard survey instruent with soe open-ended and soe closed-ended questions. The instruents were provided to the key inforants in advance of the telephone interviews. Each interview lasted approxiately 30 to 45 inutes. In ost cases, we interviewed the volunteer anager. In cases where there was no volunteer anager, we interviewed the organization s executive director or deputy director. The questions focused on the volunteer progra history, nubers of volunteers, progra funding and costs, and strategies for volunteer recruitent, training and supervision. In addition, we collected soe background aterial such as progra descriptions, budgets, and organizational charts fro the participating progras. D DEVELOPING A SAMPLE OF PROGRAMS Because there is no nationwide accreditation of nonprofit volunteer progras and no single set of standards for volunteer progra operations, the concept of high quality eans different things to different people. In order to develop a saple of high quality volunteer progras, the Grantaker Foru turned to 15 experts for their advice. These individuals have studied volunteeris and train volunteer anagers on a national scale. They are well known in the field and know the field well. A list of our experts is appended to this report. The Grantaker Foru asked each expert to identify three progras fro around the country urban, suburban, and rural progras; large and sall progras; progras for diverse populations that they consider to be of high quality. 1 The experts referred us to a total of 34 volunteer progras. In soe cases ore than one expert cited the sae progra. The goal of the final saple was to have geographic representation and a diversity of services, size and budgets. In the end, the Grantaker Foru selected 26 progras for further inquiry. Next the Grantaker Foru contacted all 26 progras by telephone, described the project and solicited their participation. This process resulted in a final saple of 21 high quality volunteer progras. The progras represent a range of organizations. They include hospitals, useus, anial shelters, food banks, after school-progras, city volunteer progras and others. The ages of the organizations vary, fro one that started in 1866 to another that was launched in Organizational budgets range fro $116,000 to over $1 billion. Alost all of the organizations receive philanthropic support, and all but four receive soe for of governent funding. Staffing varies across the organizations as well, fro one organization with no full-tie professional staff to another with over 5,000 full-tie staff. 1 Specifically, the Foru asked these experts to identify anagers of volunteer progras that were known to the or reputed to be providing volunteers with a satisfying and eaningful experience while at the sae tie delivering high quality services to the clients or counity. 2

5 THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE LIMITATIONS D This study docuents the contours of a liited set of high quality volunteer progras for the purpose of better understanding the costs incurred by organizations that successfully engage volunteers. It is iportant to note that this effort is liited to a sall nuber of progras and is not necessarily representative of all volunteer organizations in the United States. The intent of this exaination is to raise awareness of issues that ust be considered and addressed as part of any effort to expand citizen service in the United States. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE ON THE VALUE OF VOLUNTEERS This exaination began with a review of the literature on the cost and value of volunteering. We were able to find research in the field of econoics that placed a dollar value on the work of volunteers, but liited research on assessing the cost of those volunteers to the organizations where they serve. D Many researchers have looked at the contribution volunteering akes to the econoy, how incoe and other factors influence the likelihood of volunteering, and what volunteers get back in return for their contribution of tie. 2 Two coon approaches to deterining the value of volunteer work are calculating the opportunity cost for the volunteer (the gains the volunteer could ake if using that tie for eployent or recreation) and figuring the cost of replacing the volunteer with paid staff. The value-added equation is alost always established as a no-cost concept; that is, that volunteers siply and strictly augent the capacity of professional staff. This calculation avoids two critical questions: What resources are needed to sponsor volunteers? And where do those resources coe fro? Katherine Gaskin in Europe and Michelle Goulbourne in Canada have looked at the resources needed to sponsor volunteers and have developed sophisticated ethods for organizations that are interested in deterining the overall value of volunteering. 3 In one study, Gaskin calculated a ratio of costs of volunteering to the arket or organization salary value of a volunteer s tie. Applying this ethodology to eight organizations in England, the Netherlands and Denark, she found that volunteers return between 1.30 and for every 1 expended. Calculated in US dollars, that is a return of between $2.05 and $21.24 for every $1.57 expended. 4 2 Govekar, P.L. and M.A. Govekar. Using Econoic Theory and Research to Better Understand Volunteer Behavior. Nonprofit Manageent and Leadership, 13 (1): 33-48, Gaskin, K., M. Goulbourne, and A. Ellis. Measuring Econoic Value of Volunteering: Research Findings fro Europe and Canada. Paper prepared for the ARNOVA conference, Noveber Institute for Volunteering Research. Valuing Volunteers in Europe: A Coparative Study of the Volunteer Investent and Value Audit. London: Institute for Volunteering Research. [n.d.] 3

6 THE COST OF A VOLUNTEER The available literature that addresses the costs of volunteering has been focused on developing ethods of calculating cost effectiveness. Jeffrey Brudney, professor of Political Science and adjunct professor of Social Work at the University of Georgia, offers a useful outline of soe of the direct and indirect cost centers of housing volunteers in an organization. 5 He delineates a siple odel for volunteer progra anagers to follow in order to deterine the worth of volunteers to an organization. His work provides a clear and concise prier for organizations seeking to understand the cost and value of volunteering. Public/Private Ventures (PPV) has attepted to estiate volunteer infrastructure costs. In their July 2002 study, Making the Most of Volunteers, PPV concluded that the necessary infrastructure for a volunteer progra costs approxiately $300 per year per volunteer. 6 This figure was calculated on the value of staff tie, using the typical staff pay in the study s saple, which was $23,000 a year plus benefits. Functions included in this infrastructure cost are screening, training and general anageent. This figure, however, differs fro one put forward in an earlier PPV study on entoring progras, Making A Difference: An Ipact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters. This study assessed the cost of an effective entoring atch at $1, The higher costs in the entoring study reflect additional volunteer progra requireents. In addition to the basic volunteer infrastructure functions of screening, training and anageent, the costs in this study include training beyond the required iniu, additional attention to volunteer placeent, and frequent counications with the volunteers and the youth participants. In general, what the literature suggests supports the findings of our review. Volunteers are not free, and there are challenges to quantifying the costs of a volunteer. 5 Brudney, J.L. Fostering Volunteer Progras in the Public Sector: Planning, Initiating, and Managing Voluntary Activities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, Public/Private Ventures. Making the Most of Volunteers, July Public/Private Ventures. Making a Difference: An Ipact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters. Septeber

7 THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE THEMES D Beyond confiring that volunteers aren t free, the inforation provided by our saple of 21 progras illustrates the coplexity of calculating the costs and value of a volunteer. The inforation also shows the tension between the progras desire for ore volunteers and their coitent to anage and support volunteers for quality results. The ost iportant thee, we would argue, is that ore than half of the organizations with which we spoke are unwilling or unable to accept ore volunteers. This finding fundaentally challenges the assuption that the only requireent to engage ore citizens in volunteer service is an effective call to serve. In fact, if the organizations that are best suited to deploy volunteer capacity are not prepared to accoodate any substantial increase in the nuber of volunteers they anage, then the call to serve ay be heard, but cannot be heeded. Why would an organization say, No ore volunteers, please? The thees fro our interviews, taken together, provide a portrait of what capacity ust be harnessed, supported and built in order to achieve the President s vision for engaged citizenship. The Grantaker Foru on Counity & National Service puts forward the following thees that eerged fro our review in order to increase our understanding of what it takes to ount an effective volunteer effort. VOLUNTEERS AREN T FREE Consider how the value of volunteers accrues. First, the act of volunteering is an expression of coitent to counity, and that has value to the nation. Second, the benefit of the services provided by a volunteer ay differ in fundaental ways fro services offered by professional staff since the otivation to serve ay be different. In soe cases, a unique benefit is derived when the volunteer has ore in coon with the person being served (age, race, econoic background or experience) than does the professional staff. Third, volunteers expand the base of counity support for the nonprofit organization that sponsors the by aking the work of the nonprofit transparent to the counity by bringing the counity in, so to speak. In doing this, volunteers provide organizations with word-of-outh publicity and have the potential to cultivate a broader base of supporters for the agency and its ission. And, of course, in addition to these benefits, volunteers expand organizations capacity to deliver services to clients and counities in need. None of these added values, however, can theselves cover or offset the real financial costs associated with hosting and anaging a cadre of volunteers. Most of us are failiar with counity organizations that absolutely depend on volunteers for the delivery of their progras and services. These organizations or the service they deliver would diinish or even disappear without volunteers. In the food banks interviewed as part of this exaination, volunteers assue the responsibility for collecting, oving, packaging and handing out the food. In an after-school tutoring progra, volunteers provide all the tutoring and support to the youth. These are just two exaples of how essential volunteers are to the execution of soe progras purposes and goals. As one volunteer anager told us, We would not exist without our volunteers. It s not just nice, it s essential. 5

8 THE COST OF A VOLUNTEER On first glance one ight assue that progras that rely significantly on volunteers, like the food banks and tutoring progra in our review, would be low-cost progras because of the extent to which their services are delivered by unpaid help. And yet the tutors have to be recruited, screened, trained and carefully supervised. For the food bank volunteers to perfor their functions, they first have to be assigned to teas and scheduled with a high degree of coordination across a nuber of function areas, fro food collection to food delivery. In each of these cases, the volunteers succeed and their counities benefit because the volunteers are well supported by teas of paid professional staff. NO MORE VOLUNTEERS, PLEASE MORE THAN HALF OF THE ORGANIZATIONS WITH WHICH WE SPOKE INDICATE THAT THEY DO NOT NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS. I turn e away, said one progra anager. I just can t handle any ore. This reluctance to take on ore volunteers is based priarily on the capacity of the organization to effectively deploy ore volunteer labor. In this environent, we run a risk of overselling volunteer opportunities and then turning people away when they heed the call. In order to accoodate ore volunteers, progra anagers say they need ore organizational capacity ore professional staff, ore funding, ore infrastructure. Of the nine progras that stated they do in fact need ore volunteers, their needs are specific in ters of NATIONAL SERVICE AND EFFECTIVE VOLUNTEERING A new developent in the last decade has been the arrival of AeriCorps ebers on the counity service scene. AeriCorps ebers receive sall stipends and a post-service educational benefit in exchange for one to two years of full- or part-tie intensive service in a counity agency or collaborative project. These stipended national service ebers join SeniorCorps volunteers and the older but uch saller corps of VISTA (Volunteers In Service to Aerica) ebers who have been working with grass roots counity organizations since the 1960 s. In addition, there is new interest in college work-study placeents which for years have provided counity nonprofits with low-cost or no-cost labor while enriching thousands of college students education with a counity service experience. Soe organizations have begun to offset the instability of their increasingly casual volunteer pool by bringing in national service ebers fro AeriCorps,VISTA, or SeniorCorps. Soe volunteer progras are also benefiting fro consistent support provided by college students in the federally funded counity work-study progra. One progra anager we interviewed credited the federal work-study progra for helping hi handle the flow of new volunteers.the college work-study volunteers create stability in the progra s hoework center, said the anager, because they spend far ore tie in the center than the other volunteers. At this iportant juncture in our civic history, we have the opportunity to cobine the energy and efforts of traditional volunteers with the energy and efforts of stipended volunteers who are recruited and trained through federally-funded national service and college work-study progras. When taken together, these efforts can be utually reinforcing and axiize the value of each in the enterprise of solving iportant huan and social probles. 6

9 THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE scheduling and skills. The key issue is having the capacity to incorporate volunteer labor effectively so that neither the organization nor the volunteer is wasting tie. Several progras we interviewed provided exaples of the specific nature of their volunteer needs which ay not be et by a general call to service. The Food Bank of the Counity Action Partnership of Orange County and Shanti, an organization providing services to people with life-threatening illness, both report a need for daytie volunteers. Both have enough volunteers for evenings and weekends but are challenged to find people who have tie to give during business hours. Think Together, an after school progra in Santa Ana, California, relies on any college students to tutor school children. During the suers and holidays when students travel or go hoe and are not available, the progra needs one hundred shortter volunteers. The progra s recruitent challenge is to fill a recurring but liited need that has specific training and scheduling requireents. Several anagers explained that their progras require volunteers to attend training courses that range fro twenty to fifty hours prior to starting volunteer work. The best tie to recruit and bring on new volunteers is around the training schedule. These progra anagers are NOT able to incorporate volunteers at any given oent of the year and therefore do not find large-scale calls to service helpful in their recruitent efforts. Finally, any institutions such as schools, corporations and religious congregations are organizing groups of volunteers to undertake one-tie-only projects. One anager noted in response to this approach, I turning down groups who want to do one-tie group projects. I refer the to the Volunteer Center. Much of the work that needs to be done is not feasible in a one-tie-only approach. DIFFERENT VOLUNTEERS - VARIED OPPORTUNITIES VOLUNTEERS CONTRIBUTE IN WAYS THAT ARE AS DIVERSE AS THE NEEDS THEY MEET. Our review deonstrates the wide range of services and support that volunteers provide to counity organizations. They serve as docents in useus, patrol the wetlands and package and distribute food to the hungry. They stencil stor drain signs and feed and care for anials in the zoo. They are child advocates and web asters. They re the divers who clean the underwater windows at the Monterey Bay Aquariu. They are the designers and writers for agency newsletters and the counity representatives for county governent agencies. They are fundraisers at the food bank and lab technicians at the local crie laboratory. The nature of the work and the skills required of volunteers are as varied as the services provided by the nation s nonprofits. In addition, alost all of the 21 organizations with which we spoke are eploying volunteers across any, if not all, of the priary organizational functions, fro governance to progra adinistration, fro direct services to anageent and supervision. Because the range of volunteer roles is wide and deep, there is a wide range in the requireents for a volunteer s qualifications, previous experience, tie coitent, intensity of service and training. This diversity of volunteer roles and requireents contributes to the difficulty of calculating the cost of an average volunteer, even within one organization. The useu docent requires ore training and scheduling than the relief receptionist; the youth progra leader needs closer supervision and ore support than the food box packer. 7

10 THE COST OF A VOLUNTEER 21ST CENTURY VOLUNTEERS COST MORE BECAUSE OF CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS AND EXPECTATIONS AMONG THOSE WHO VOLUNTEER, ORGANIZATIONS ARE COMPELLED TO INVEST MORE TIME AND MONEY IN THE RECRUITMENT, TRAINING AND RETENTION OF 21 ST CENTURY VOLUNTEERS THAN OF VOLUNTEERS IN TIMES PAST. The classic volunteer of forty years ago was a housewife who had enough tie available that she was able to coit to a regular schedule for her volunteering four-to-six hours per week. With this tie coitent and regular schedule, she could be relied upon to shoulder significant organizational responsibilities. The 21 st century volunteer is ore likely to be eployed, have professional skills to share, have a liited aount of tie available, and have greater need for iediate gratification. The 21 st century volunteer seeks short-ter assignents with a high level of personal reward. Today s volunteers want to see change happen quickly as a result of their contributions and are less likely to coit over a long period of tie on a consistent basis. One volunteer progra leader explained that 21 st century volunteers require a kind of job sharing approach to their volunteer service. We do ore short-ter projects that are ore interesting. People want instant gratification fro their volunteer experience. The classic volunteer asks, What can I do for you? The 21 st century volunteer says, What can you do for e? Another progra has successfully recruited young professionals as new volunteers and donors. However the executive director of this sall and young organization acknowledged a hidden cost involving volunteers who are between jobs or who have just oved here. I spend a lot of tie orienting the, and then they ove on. I understand, but it is a real costly investent of staff tie for a sall organization. Fro the standpoint of the organizations recruiting these volunteers, the costs of their volunteer progras are increasing. The organizations need ore people to fill their volunteer positions, and they spend ore tie and oney recruiting, organizing, and effectively scheduling new volunteers. Since there are ore volunteers required, the cost of training goes up as well. VOLUNTEER PROGRAM COSTS ARE HARD TO FIND ONLY 13 OF THE 21 ORGANIZATIONS WITH WHICH WE SPOKE HAVE A BUDGET DEDICATED TO THEIR VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS. EVEN AMONG THOSE, MOST OF THE REAL COSTS ARE SUBSUMED WITHIN THE LARGER ORGANIZATIONAL BUDGETS - THEY ARE EFFECTIVELY INVISIBLE TO THE INQUIRING MIND. 8 Traditionally the nonprofit sector has prooted to its governent and philanthropic supporters that its reliance on volunteers is a low-cost or no-cost service delivery strategy. Philanthropic and governent supporters have been reluctant to finance organizational infrastructure expenses such as capital costs, anageent and supervision, equipent and supplies. The result is a lack of inforation about the costs of ounting a volunteer progra, copounded by the challenge of actually quantifying those costs costs that that ay be shared across different functions and progras within an organization.

11 THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE The evidence abounds. Even for those organizations with dedicated volunteer progra budgets, the budgets are inial and generally cover only recognition, aterials or recruitent. While any progras include a line for staffing, it is alost always defined strictly as the volunteer progra anager, excluding the cost of the tie of those professionals outside of the volunteer progra who have responsibilities for training and supervising volunteers. Yet the contribution of these departent or project supervisors is cited over and over as essential to the quality and success of the volunteer progras. To illustrate, the Valley Hospital s volunteer budget includes a line for staffing that covers five full-tie positions and a part-tie weekend assistant. But the budget does not reflect the tie of the nearly one hundred hospital staff who supervise the volunteers and give assignents on a daily basis. The Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties volunteer progra budget covers only volunteer recognition even though the organization eploys a full-tie and part-tie volunteer coordinator. The cost of providing office space, telephone and other overhead for the volunteer progra is included in only three of the organizations volunteer budgets. Most progras purchase soe insurance coverage for their volunteers 8, but only six list insurance as a discrete cost. To the extent that we were able to ascertain volunteer progra costs, the budgets provided by the organizations reflect a range fro forty-two cents per volunteer to $410. While we ay safely assue that forty-two cents is low, we have no way of knowing if even $410 is adequate or sufficient. The tendency for organizations to subsue their volunteer progra costs into their general operating budget ay reflect a discofort about the real costs associated with having volunteers. We are all proud of the contributions of volunteers and the fact that volunteers contribute without expectation of onetary reward. But the yth of free volunteers confounds the developent of helpful policy, funding and technical assistance for the infrastructure of Aerica s volunteer network. VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE FUNDED BY PHILANTHROPY THAN BY GOVERNMENT. With respect to their overall organizational budgets, 19 of the 21 organizations in our review receive funding fro philanthropy. The two organizations that indicate that they do not receive philanthropic support actually set up free-standing nonprofit organizations to solicit donations and grants, so in essence they too receive philanthropic support. Only 13 of the 21 organizations receive funding fro governent sources, and the federal governent and local governent are listed ore frequently than state governent. In ters of financial support specifically for volunteer progra operations, philanthropy is the ost prevalent funder. To the extent that there is a draatic increase in volunteering, this 8 Insurance for volunteers includes accident and illness insurance or workers copensation insurance, excess auto insurance if volunteers drive their cars for any part of their volunteer work, and additional costs in the organizations liability insurance, depending on the work that the volunteers do.this insurance can range fro a few dollars a year per volunteer for a sall progra to thousands of dollars for large scale progras. Most voluntary organizations also purchase Directors and Officers insurance for their board of directors. 9

12 THE COST OF A VOLUNTEER WHAT IT TAKES In order to aintain an effective and high quality volunteer progra, professional staff ust dedicate tie to counicate with and supervise volunteers.the volunteer progra staff and others who directly supervise volunteers need to allocate tie to provide training, dayto-day support and oversight of the volunteers work, in addition to interacting with and showing interest in the volunteers. According to research conducted by the UPS Foundation, the priary reason people stop volunteering is because of poor anageent. 1 As nonprofits are called upon to provide ore and better quality services, says the UPS Foundation, organizations and grantakers ust work together to build the nonprofit sector s capacity to anage volunteers appropriately and effectively. Training Progra anagers state that the best training is conducted on a one-on-one basis, with volunteers having an orientation to the agency and its services and then specific preparation for the responsibilities associated with their assignents. Fro an efficiency standpoint, however, ost volunteer training occurs on a group basis. Supervision Supervising a volunteer is a real and significant responsibility, explained one progra anager. For staff who supervise volunteers it ust be written into their job descriptions, and they ust be evaluated on it. Recognition & Appreciation A distinguishing characteristic of a volunteer fro a paid eployee is that he or she is doing the work ore out of personal coitent and gratification than out of a desire for financial copensation. Even in cases where a volunteer receives a stipend, the reuneration is substantially less than wages for coparable work.the otivation to volunteer and therefore the rewards for volunteering are distinct fro the otivation and rewards associated with eployent. The huan connection of volunteering is costly, states one progra anager. Volunteers require a level of attention, caring and support in a way that eployed staff ay not, said another. For exaple, explained one inforant, volunteers need and expect to be greeted as they arrive and asked about how they are doing. Another explained, I always keep y door open for volunteers who want to drop in and talk. In order to retain volunteers, notes one anager, We ust be friendly, considerate, caring, interested in their lives outside the organization. Managers acknowledge that this is a required cost of operating a quality volunteer progra. Manageent Models Volunteers can be recruited, trained, anaged and supervised within a discrete volunteer progra or they can be recruited and organized by one departent and then trained and supervised across a variety of functional areas within an organization. Each approach has benefits for different service-delivery odels. 1 United Parcel Service, Points of Light Foundation, Association of Volunteer Adinistrators. A Guide to Investing in Volunteer Resources Manageent: Iprove Your Philanthropic Portfolio. Noveber

13 THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE suggests that nonprofit organizations will seek support fro the philanthropic sector unless and until the public sector recognizes the need for resources and releases funds to unleash capacity for citizen service. The public sector could expand the nonprofit sector s capacity to absorb ore volunteers if it would relax restrictions on the use of public funds to enable nonprofits to pay for the infrastructure and adinistrative costs associated with their volunteer progras, fro recruitent to anageent and supervision. VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT IS A VALUE, NOT JUST A STRATEGY FOR SERVICE DELIVERY. Organizations that operate high quality volunteer progras have a stated coitent to volunteers it is a part of their organizational philosophy and is reinforced in the culture of the organization. Five of the organizations in our review note that they were started by volunteers. Others noted the engageent of volunteers as part of the original vision for the organization and its services. The progra anagers often cite charisatic leaders, the founders vision, and high energy people that chapioned the role of volunteers. They talk about the iportance of the involveent by board leaders and executive directors or CEOs in the assessent and developent of the volunteer progra. High quality volunteer progras develop and grow best when the organizational culture acknowledges and values the range of assets that volunteers contribute. According to one progra anager, Organizations that run successful volunteer progras have a well articulated philosophy the professional staff sees the supervision and support of volunteers as part of their jobs. One organization provides a philosophy stateent about volunteers to all new eployees. Another includes volunteer supervision and support as an eleent of every eployee s perforance review. It has to start at the top, stated one key inforant. The philosophy has to be there. Nonprofit organizations that have a vision for incorporating volunteers in service delivery accrue advantages over tie to their volunteer progras. The support, supervision and attention that volunteers require, not to ention the logistical aspects of scheduling volunteer labor, are significant burdens to an organization and cannot be established casually as an add on service. New organizations and organizations interested in adding a volunteer coponent to existing progras should have access to technical assistance and aterials that draw on what strong voluntary organizations have learned as they built their progras. 11

14 THE COST OF A VOLUNTEER D CONCLUSION When the Grantaker Foru on Counity & National Service set out to undertake this review, we did so with a coitent to bring forward the concerns of progras that rely on volunteers. While liited in scope, our exaination effectively brings to life the experience of these progras, with insights into the any ways in which they rely on volunteers, the coitent that is required of the to do so, the challenges they face in engaging volunteer support, and the benefits that accrue as well. As a nation our efforts to address iportant huan and social probles ay benefit fro broader and deeper counity involveent in service and volunteering, but a non-specific call for thousands of new volunteers will not by itself create effective engageent. The national call to service needs a copanion effort to ensure that volunteers are deployed in eaningful and effective ways, and that nonprofits are prepared to deliver a quality volunteer experience so that volunteers can deliver a quality service to their counities. Without adequate nonprofit capacity to receive and engage volunteers, a call to service risks drawing potential volunteers into a disappointing or frustrating experience that discourages the fro volunteering in the future. The ethic and successful practice of citizen service requires a thoughtful, well-organized atch between the interests and otivations of individuals and the real and practical needs of organizations. While we have not been able to quantify the specific cost of a volunteer, we are able to identify the nature of those costs. To the extent that the nation rallies behind a vision of an engaged Aerica an Aerica where each of us recognizes not only the opportunity but the obligation we have to give back it will be necessary to build up the counity capacity to accoodate our gifts of tie and service. And these costs ay be well justified if the experience of service helps us to transcend our differences, if it gives us coon pursuits, and if, by our energy and efforts, we solve pressing and iportant huan and social probles. 12

15 THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE Brudney, J.L. Fostering Volunteer Progras in the Public Sector: Planning, Initiating, and Managing Voluntary Activities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, Gaskin, K. and B. Dobson. The Econoic Equation of Volunteering: A Pilot Study. Leicestershire: Center for Research in Social Policy, Deceber Gaskin, K., M. Goulbourne, and A. Ellis. Measuring Econoic Value of Volunteering: Research Findings fro Europe and Canada. Paper prepared for the ARNOVA conference, Noveber Govekar, P.L. and M.A. Govekar. Using Econoic Theory and Research to Better Understand Volunteer Behavior. Nonprofit Manageent and Leadership, 13 (1): 33-48, Institute for Volunteering Research. Valuing Volunteers in Europe: A Coparative Study of the Volunteer Investent and Value Audit. London: Institute for Volunteering Research. [n.d.] instvolres@aol.co Public/Private Ventures. Making a Difference: An Ipact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters. Septeber Public/Private Ventures. Making the Most of Volunteers, July REFERENCES D United Parcel Service, Points of Light Foundation, Association of Volunteer Adinistrators. A Guide to Investing in Volunteer Resources Manageent: Iprove Your Philanthropic Portfolio. Noveber

16 THE COST OF A VOLUNTEER D PROGRAM PROFILES Organization/ Progra Alaeda County Food Bank Arizona-Sonora Desert Museu Center for Food Action, NW Location OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMS Organizational budget Volunteer progra budget? Nuber of volunteers Volunteer progra staff* Other staff who work with volunteers Oakland, CA $3,800,000 Y 3, Tucson, AZ $7,000,000 Y Ringwood, NJ $2,100,000 N 4, City of Mountainview Mountainview, CA $165,189,051 Y Counity Action Partnership of Orange County Garden Grove, CA $18,000,000 N 11, County of Sonoa Santa Rosa, CA $1,003,500,000 Y 2, Courage Center Minneapolis, MN $31,000,000 Y 2, Interreligious Fellowship for the Hoeless of Bergen County Marin Civic Center (County of Marin) Teaneck, NJ $1,500,000 Y 4, San Rafael, CA $300,000,000 N 3, Monterey Bay Aquariu Monterey, CA $43,000,000 Y Pia Anial Control (Pia County) Tucson, AZ $3,000,000 N Project Angelheart Denver, CO $1,100,000 Y 2, Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties San Jose, CA $11,600,000 Y 2, Shanti San Francisco, CA $4,500,000 N Soerset Medical Center Soerville, NJ $146,000,000 Y 1, Think Together Santa Ana, CA $1,300,000 Y Tu Nidito Tucson, AZ $585,000 Y The Valley Hospital Ridgewood, NJ $295,000,000 Y 2, Volunteer Jacksonville Jacksonville, FL $700,000 N Volunteers in Protective Service Hackensack, NJ $644,000 Y World Pulse Oakland, CA $116,000 N *Full-tie and part-tie paid staff 14

17 THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE PROGRAM PROFILES D Alaeda County Counity Food Bank Oakland, CA NATURE OF SERVICES: A network of 300 hunger relief organizations distribution of food assistance, education regarding hunger and poverty ANNUAL BUDGET: $3,800,000 SOURCES OF FUNDS: Individuals, foundations, corporations, federal governent, state governent, local governent EXISTENCE: 17 years STAFF: 32 full-tie, 2 part-tie WHAT VOLUNTEERS DO: On the Board, warehouse screening and sorting donated food, office, eergency food referral service FIRST BEGAN RELYING ON VOLUNTEERS:1985 NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS: 3,800 AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER VOLUNTEER PER MONTH: 8 PROGRAM: 10 onths CAN RECRUIT: No. Would need ore opportunities or to extend hours of operation FUNCTIONS OF VOLUNTEERS: Direct services, counity organizing or outreach, adinistrative or clerical, Board VOLUNTEER PROGRAM BUDGET: $2,500, includes recruitent and recognition PAID STAFF WORKING ON VOLUNTEER PROGRAM: 1 full-tie, 2 part-tie OTHER STAFF WHO WORK WITH VOLUNTEERS: Most of our 34-eber staff in one way or another work with volunteers, whether it s office, warehouse, or board ebers. City of Mountainview Mountainview, CA NATURE OF SERVICES: Acts as a clearinghouse for volunteer services in city departents ANNUAL BUDGET: $165,189,051 SOURCES OF FUNDS: Federal, state, and local governent; philanthropic, sales tax EXISTENCE: 16 years STAFF: 550 full-tie, 100 part-tie WHAT VOLUNTEERS DO: A variety of positions in city departents - graphic design, photography, special events, eergency preparedness, senior center progras, ushers and art docents in the center for perforing arts, library, office assistants, stor drain stenciling, day caps, teen progras, tenant/landlord ediators and ore! FIRST BEGAN RELYING ON VOLUNTEERS: 1988 NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS: 600 plus AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER VOLUNTERR PER MONTH (APPROX.): 8 PROGRAM (APPROX.): 5 years CAN RECRUIT: No. Would need ore staff a 10-hour per week person to build opportunities FUNCTIONS OF VOLUNTEERS: Progra adinistration, anageent and supervision, direct services, public inforation, adinistrative or clerical VOLUNTEER PROGRAM BUDGET: $78,988. Budget covers a 3/4 tie staff to coordinate progra city wide, recruitent, placeent, arketing aterials and outreach, recognition and professional affiliations. PAID STAFF WORKING ON VOLUNTEER PRO- GRAM: 1.75 FTE staff OTHER STAFF WHO WORK WITH VOLUNTEERS: 12 departent liaisons. QUOTE: Keeping counities connected keeps counities strong. 15

18 D THE COST OF A VOLUNTEER PROGRAM PROFILES Counity Action Partnership of Orange County Food Bank Garden Grove, California NATURE OF SERVICES: Anti-poverty agency ANNUAL BUDGET: $18,000,000 SOURCES OF FUNDS: Federal governent, state governent, local governent, philanthropic, earned incoe EXISTENCE: 37 years STAFF: 97 full-tie, 1 part-tie WHAT VOLUNTEERS DO: Food packaging, involved in every aspect of the agency FIRST BEGAN RELYING ON VOLUNTEERS: 1980 NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS: 11,000 AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER VOLUNTEER PER MONTH: 4 PROGRAM: 3 years CAN RECRUIT: Yes, for daytie hours FUNCTIONS OF VOLUNTEERS: Manageent and supervision, direct services, public inforation and outreach, adinistrative or clerical, warehouse labor (sorting, assebling) VOLUNTEER PROGRAM BUDGET: None PAID STAFF WORKING ON VOLUNTEER PROGRAM: 3 part-tie staff OTHER STAFF WHO WORK WITH VOLUNTEERS: 27 QUOTE: I can t identify the specific volunteer costs. The volunteer progra is a necessary part of what we do. It s absorbed into tasks of others, and into the budget. County of Sonoa Volunteer and Intern Progra Santa Rosa, California NATURE OF SERVICES: County governent ANNUAL BUDGET: $1,003,500,000 SOURCES OF FUNDS: Federal, state, local governent EXISTENCE: 156 years STAFF: 5,060 4,060 peranent and 1,000 teporary WHAT VOLUNTEERS DO: A wide range of services in the anial shelter, eergency disaster services, law enforceent, parks, search and rescue, gardeners, entors, friendly visitors, and ore. FIRST BEGAN RELYING ON VOLUNTEERS: 1984 NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS: 2,100 AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER VOLUNTEER PER MONTH (APPROX.): 12 PROGRAM: Average varies by progra fro one day to 25 years CAN RECRUIT: Yes, but would need additional designated staff to utilize the FUNCTIONS OF VOLUNTEERS: Progra adinistration, anageent and supervision, direct services, counity organizing and outreach, public inforation, adinistrative or clerical, advisory boards and coissions VOLUNTEER PROGRAM BUDGET: $125,649, includes staffing, recruitent and prootion, aterials, recognition, volunteer insurance PAID STAFF WORKING ON VOLUNTEER PROGRAM: 3 part-tie OTHER STAFF WHO WORK WITH VOLUNTEERS: 250 QUOTE: It is essential to the survival of a volunteer progra to have support fro the top. 16

19 THE GRANTMAKER FORUM ON COMMUNITY & NATIONAL SERVICE Courage Center Minneapolis, Minnesota NATURE OF SERVICES: Rehabilitation for people with physical disabilities and sensory ipairents ANNUAL BUDGET: $31,000,000 SOURCES OF FUNDS: Philanthropic, earned incoe EXISTENCE: 75 years STAFF: 296 full-tie, 225 part-tie WHAT VOLUNTEERS DO: One-on-one in therapy, recreation and sports instructors, peer entors in residences, tutors, escorts for visitors and reception helpers, activity aides, speakers FIRST BEGAN RELYING ON VOLUNTEERS: 1928 NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS: 2,300 AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER VOLUNTEER PER MONTH: 3.5 PROGRAM (APPROX.): average of 3 to 5 years CAN RECRUIT: We could use ore if we had ore volunteer departent staff to screen, place, advocate for, and train staff on working with volunteers FUNCTIONS OF VOLUNTEERS: Progra adinistration, anageent and supervision, direct services, public inforation and outreach, adinistrative or clerical, fundraising VOLUNTEER PROGRAM BUDGET: $326,500, covers staffing, training, recruitent and prootion, aterials, equipent, recognition, overhead, volunteer insurance PAID STAFF WORKING ON VOLUNTEER PRO- GRAM: 4 full-tie, 3 part-tie OTHER STAFF WHO WORK WITH VOLUNTEERS: 112 QUOTE: A real key to our success is that volunteers are a priary organizational value. Volunteers are integral to all progra operations. I serve on the executive tea and a thus intiately involved in organizational policy and planning. PROGRAM PROFILES D Marin Civic Center Volunteers San Rafael, California NATURE OF SERVICES: Local governent ANNUAL BUDGET: $300,000,000 SOURCES OF FUNDS: Federal, state, local, earned incoe EXISTENCE: 100 years STAFF: 1980 full-tie, 207 part-tie WHAT VOLUNTEERS DO: Active in all aspects of county governent: library, legal research, engineering, coputer work, grounds/land anageent, event ushers, docents, search and rescue, for exaple. FIRST BEGAN RELYING ON VOLUNTEERS: 1979 NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS: 3,300 AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER MONTH: could not say PROGRAM: could not say CAN RECRUIT: It depends on the job... in soe cases we would need to have ore space, ore supervision (staffing). FUNCTIONS OF VOLUNTEERS: Progra adinistration, anageent and supervision, direct services, counity organizing or advocacy, public inforation and outreach, adinistrative, other VOLUNTEER PROGRAM BUDGET: NO PAID STAFF WORKING ON VOLUNTEER PRO- GRAM: 3 part-tie OTHER STAFF WHO WORK WITH VOLUNTEERS: 150 QUOTE: Spend oney on professional, dedicated staff for who it s not just a job people who are passionate and feel a calling to do it. Don t skip on staff. 17

20 D THE COST OF A VOLUNTEER PROGRAM PROFILES Monterey Bay Aquariu Monterey, California NATURE OF SERVICES: Educational institution with focus on stewardship of the world s oceans ANNUAL BUDGET: $42,576,356 SOURCES OF FUNDS: Federal governent, philanthropic, earned incoe EXISTENCE: 19.5 years STAFF: 430 full-tie and part-tie WHAT VOLUNTEERS DO: Direct services, working with children, docents, volunteer divers that clean windows, feeding, clerical, anial husbandry, website, training workshops, newsletter FIRST BEGAN RELYING ON VOLUNTEERS: 1983 NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS: 944 AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER VOLUNTEER PER MONTH (APPROX.): 16 hours PROGRAM (APPROX.): 2.5 years CAN RECRUIT: We have anaged to aintain our nubers. However it s increasingly difficult to recruit, and ore adinistrative tie is devoted to recruitent than in the past. FUNCTIONS OF VOLUNTEERS: Progra adinistration, anageent and supervision, direct services, environental advocacy, public inforation and outreach, adinistrative, Board ebers, Advisory Board VOLUNTEER PROGRAM BUDGET: $81,905, covers recruitent, placeent, prootion, recognition, unifors, training and travel. PAID STAFF WORKING ON VOLUNTEER PROGRAM: 4.5 full-tie eployees within the Volunteer Resources Departent OTHER STAFF WHO WORK WITH VOLUNTEERS: 55 individuals QUOTE: We need to shift our recruitent and placeent strategies to incorporate short ter volunteer opportunities. Today s volunteers are seeking one-tie or short-ter volunteer positions. Pia Anial Control Tucson, Arizona NATURE OF SERVICES: License and secure loose dogs, control doestic anials per county ordinances, shelter abandoned anials, pet adoptions ANNUAL BUDGET: $3,000,000 SOURCES OF FUNDS: Local governent, earned incoe EXISTENCE: 41 years STAFF: 50 full-tie WHAT VOLUNTEERS DO: Anial shelter host, kennel aide, public presentations, evaluator/trainers for dogs getting ready for adoption FIRST BEGAN RELYING ON VOLUNTEERS: 1988 NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS: 40 AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER VOLUNTEER PER MONTH: 8 hours PROGRAM: 1 year CAN RECRUIT: Yes FUNCTIONS OF VOLUNTEERS: Progra adinistration, anageent and supervision, direct services, public inforation and outreach, adinistrative or clerical, Board ebers, fundraising VOLUNTEER PROGRAM BUDGET: No PAID STAFF WORKING ON VOLUNTEER PROGRAM: None OTHER STAFF WHO WORK WITH VOLUNTEERS: 50 QUOTES: We have a big public relations job to do to eradicate the dog catcher iage. Having volunteers actually helps us to do that. More volunteers eans ore hoes for ore anials siple! 18